My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 655: Combos that prevent the enemy from landing
Since Gao Shun defected to Liu Bei after the Yidaizhao Incident, he has been under Guan Yu's command for seven or eight years.

Therefore, he knew Guan Ping quite well, and he also knew that this young general was quite humble and did not take credit for others' achievements.

Perhaps it was because Guan Yu was too arrogant and had very strict requirements for his children, which made Guan Ping somewhat cautious in dealing with people over the years.

At that moment, Gao Shun no longer politely divided the credit with Guan Ping, but each of them cleaned up the battlefield, put out the remaining fires, and searched for prisoners in an orderly manner.

After tallying up the results of the battle overnight, he allowed his soldiers to occupy the remaining camp left by Du Xi to rest. Gao Shun himself quickly had a letter of victory written and sent back to Yicheng early the next morning.

According to preliminary statistics, there were more than 4,000 former Jingzhou army prisoners who were forced to land in this battle, and nearly 2,000 lightly wounded.

Adding the two parts together, a total of more than 6,000 of Liu Biao's former subordinates were recovered from Cao's army.

The remaining number of enemy soldiers killed and beheaded reached over 1,500, including heads severed from the bodies of the fallen and trampled enemies. There were also no fewer than this number of seriously wounded enemy captives who, after initial screening, were deemed incurable and were left to fend for themselves.

The only pity was that the Cao army led by Du Xi did not suffer heavy casualties. Because when the battle got out of control, Du Xi took advantage of the chaos to retreat, and most of the damage was borne by Wen Pin's troops on the front line.

Wen Pin himself was not captured, and he escaped with Du Xi, abandoning his armor and weapons. However, due to the steep terrain and darkness, it was impossible to catch up with him.

However, many of the former Jingzhou military officers, including Wen Pin, surrendered, including a captured military commander, four quchangs, and more than a dozen tunchangs.

The total loss of Cao's army reached about 9,000 people, which was slightly more than Xu Huang's defeat in Shangyong. However, two-thirds of them were Liu Biao's former subordinates, and in terms of quality, they were not as good as Xu Huang's defeat.

Lumen Mountain is only forty miles away from Yicheng, so the messenger arrived the next morning.

……

At noon the next day, he was temporarily requisitioned as an official in the Yicheng County government office of the General of Chariots and Cavalry.

Liu Bei and Guan Yu were drinking and reminiscing about the past there.

Although the war had already begun two or three days ago, Guan Yu did not need to personally take part in the early stage of the cleanup attack.

Guan Yu and his elder brother hadn't seen each other for three or four years, so of course they had a lot to talk about, and a few days would be far from enough.

Zhuge Jin also knew this situation, so he took on more military coordination work. In the past few days, he took on most of the decision-making work, just arranging a rest period with Guan Yu.

At this moment, Liu Bei and Guan Yu were drinking happily, and nostalgically talking about the days when the situation was the most severe and the cause was the most difficult - that is, twelve years ago, when they were in Huaiyin, the battle with Yuan Shu in the front was unfavorable, and they were shocked to hear from the back that his third brother had lost Xia Pi. That was simply the darkest moment in Liu Bei's life after he became a local lord.

Talking about the friendship they had when they were struggling to hold on, Liu Bei and Guan Yu could not help but shed tears again. Finally, Liu Bei sighed:
"Fortunately, on that most desperate night, Gongyou found Ziyu and helped us stabilize the morale of the army with a few words. That's how we managed to defeat Ji Ling and Liu Xun. It was like turning the tide and saving the house from collapse. May God bless the Han Dynasty!
Come on, come on, let's drink! Let's not talk about the hard times back then! Back then, I couldn't sleep for nights and nights. Even when I was extremely tired, I would wake up as soon as I lay down, worried that the army would run out of food and the whole army would be defeated. It wasn't until we captured Guangling City and seized Liu Xun's military supplies that I could sleep.

Liu Bei was sighing when he heard hurried footsteps at the door. He didn't even need to look up to know that it was Zhuge Jin coming in. Because in such an occasion where he and his second brother were drinking privately, no one else would rush in without notifying the other party, except Ziyu.

"Tzuyu! You're just in time! I was just wondering about you, come have a few drinks too!"

"I still have military affairs to deal with, so I won't drink," Zhuge Jin declined politely, and then did not hide his relief and went straight to the point to announce the good news.
"My Lord, Yunchang, great joy! I didn't expect Zhongda to take action. He said that it would take three days to capture Lumen Mountain, but in fact it only took one day and one night. It seems that the performance of Xu Yang's army is indeed better than that of Jingzhou's army this time.

As for General Huang, I'm afraid they haven't even had enough time to march yet; they haven't even reached Zhuyang County yet. And it's truly commendable that Tanzhi was able to achieve merit alongside Zhongda. He's truly a son of a general."

As Zhuge Jin spoke, he gently handed the victory report on Gao Shun that he had just read to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei and Guan Yu were only slightly confused for a few seconds. After they reacted, they sat up straight, as if all the drunkenness and nostalgia had gone away.

"Zhongda has taken Lumen Mountain so soon? So fast!" Liu Bei's hand holding the victory report couldn't help but tremble slightly.

Guan Yu, who was watching the victory report, also became increasingly red in the face. The hand that was stroking his beautiful beard was also shaking a little. He didn't even realize that he had pulled out a few hairs.

In the end, it was Liu Bei who reacted faster. He noticed his second brother's misconduct, patted Guan Yu on the back, and promised: "Ping'er has really made great progress. This time, he was able to capture the Lumen Mountain stronghold. He must be promoted at least."

Guan Yu also reacted and bowed his hands modestly: "Brother... why do you say that? After all, the first merit in this battle is still Zhongda. If it weren't for him attracting the main force that severely damaged Du Xi and Wen Pin, Ping'er would be lucky not to be ambushed by taking such a risky path.

It is hard to convince people that such a small achievement would lead to a promotion. Let's wait until the battle of Yuliangzhou is over. Xiang Lang's nephew deserves a reward for his meritorious service as a guide."

Liu Bei supported Guan Yu's arm and said, "I have my own ideas. Remember Xiang Chong, he was promoted to Quzhang just before the battle, and he was here for this battle."

After discussing the rewards, Liu Bei finally ordered that one hundred catties of silver coins be given to Gao Shun first, and that twenty catties and ten catties be given to Guan Ping and Xiang Chong respectively, as well as wine, meat, and brocade as rewards to the army.

As for the rest of the promotion matters, we will discuss them after the battle is over.

After this was settled, Liu Bei turned to Zhuge Jin and continued to ask, "In your opinion, Ziyu, since we have taken Lumen Mountain so quickly, should we allow Zhongda to rest for a while? Or should we continue the attack on Yuliangzhou without stopping as planned?"

"If Cao Ren knew that our army was advancing so quickly, how would he respond? Would he immediately concentrate his forces to counterattack?"

Zhuge Jin only briefly considered it before quickly offering his own assessment: "Although Zhongda's offensive was fierce, the losses to his troops were minimal. This battle was primarily due to his preemptive strike, which intimidated Wen Pin's former Jingzhou troops, causing them to defect in the heat of battle.

Moreover, before the battle began, Yun Chang had reserved a part of the reserve troops. Now, these fresh troops can be used to form a second wave of offensive immediately, which will surely be unstoppable."

Liu Bei always followed Zhuge Jin's advice, so he immediately nodded and ordered his troops to follow his plan. He then turned to Guan Yu and said:

"Yun Chang, it seems we should return to the camp and prepare. Ping Er and Zhong Da are just baits after all. Once they advance alone and approach Xiangyang, Cao Ren may concentrate his forces to counterattack at any time. Our reinforcements must also be able to be deployed at any time and anywhere."

Upon hearing this, Guan Yu put down his wine cup and stopped drinking. He stroked his beard, straightened his appearance, and bowed to show that he would never fail in his mission.

After finishing the important matters, Zhuge Jin checked for omissions and said that he needed to pay attention to the progress of Huang Zhong's team and make some adjustments according to the situation. Liu Bei naturally felt relieved and handed it over to him.

……

Liu Bei's instructions were sent back to Gao Shun's army that night, so Gao Shun's army only rested for one day before setting out north again in batches.

Of course, Guan Yu brought more than 50,000 reinforcements from Xu, Yang and other places, and the Battle of Lumen Mountain only mobilized 30,000 people in total. So there were more than 20,000 people who had never participated in the battle before and were in very good condition.

Even among the troops that participated in the Battle of Lumen Mountain, more than 10,000 of them had served as reserves or had received sufficient rest, and were in good condition.

Both groups of troops do not need to rest at all and can immediately engage in subsequent battles.

So Gao Shun quickly gathered more than 30,000 people and corresponding warships, and attacked Yuliangzhou, more than 30 miles upstream from Lumen Mountain.

The waterway was over thirty miles long, and even sailing upstream, it only took half a day to reach the destination. Early in the morning of July 18th, Gao Shun set sail from Lumenshan Wharf and approached Yuliangzhou before noon.

As Gao Shun's vanguard, Guan Ping was a little nervous along the way, but at the same time he was quite excited and wanted to seize the opportunity to show his strengths.

Standing at the bow, Guan Ping saw the hills of Yuliangzhou appear on the horizon. He seized the opportunity and finally consulted Gao Shun to confirm the tactical plan.

"General Gao, can we attack now? Let's get the fleet to the east of Yuliangzhou Island and attack the water fort wharf first, then attack the top of the mountain. How about that?"

Guan Ping used his crystal copper tube telescope to carefully observe the enemy situation and decided to act according to the plan.

However, Gao Shun's battlefield experience was obviously richer than his, and his judgment of the enemy's strength was more accurate - although Gao Shun didn't know much about naval battles, he could still judge the strength comparison between the enemy and our own.

Gao Shun observed through his telescope, shook his head slightly, and said, "The situation seems to have changed. After all, Yuliangzhou is too close to Xiangyang City, and the enemy's defenses are quite tight. It must be that after we broke through the Lumenshan stronghold, Cao Ren urgently strengthened the defense here.

Look at the water fort at the eastern dock. There are flags and people everywhere, many patrol warships, and even Cai Mao's flag. There must be a large number of navy stationed there.

Although Cai Mao's navy is not as powerful as ours, our army does not have many naval commanders available at the moment. Those veterans from Jiangdong have either followed Yide and have not yet arrived at the Jingzhou battlefield, or are still on their way from Lingnan.

When we are outnumbered and the enemy is defending their camp, a head-on attack is not a good option."

Gao Shun said this while pointing to Guan Ping.

Guan Ping actually knew these simple principles of military strategy, but he was relatively young and lacked experience in actual combat command.

At the same time, his observation ability of the enemy's details on the battlefield was not good enough. Just now, when he was asked to look by himself, he could not see the strength of the enemy's troops in the water fort from a distance through the telescope. This was something that only Gao Shun taught him slowly in actual combat.

After Guan Ping understood, his anxiety cooled down a little. He knew he couldn't wait any longer, so he asked humbly, "Then how should our army change its deployment?"

Gao Shun thought about it, then called in Xiang Chong, the military officer who was most familiar with the geography of Xiangyang, and asked him a few questions about the topography and hydrology:

"General Xiang, based on the recent rainfall, how deep can the land between Yuliangzhou and Xiangyang be submerged? How big a warship can pass through it?"

Xiang Chong thought about it for a moment, then answered with difficulty: "I'm afraid it can only be passed by boats, not even warships, unless the load on the warships is reduced, with fewer soldiers and less weapons. Even so, it is still easy to run aground."

Gao Shun nodded, assessed the situation, and said: "Now is not the time to care about a few warships. If they run aground, they will run aground. As long as we can successfully send the first batch of soldiers to shore, we can quickly gain a foothold.

Tanzhi, I'll give you the chance to be the first this time. I'll take the large ships in the army and take the main channel of Han River, pretending to attack the deep-water dock water fort east of Yuliangzhou as planned, to attract Cai Mao's attention.

You take some warships and most of the pleasure boats, and when the water level is right, rush directly into the shallow waterway on the west side of Yuliangzhou, then abandon your ships, go ashore, form a battle line, and slowly attack from west to east.

Don't worry, I won't let you fight alone. As long as you gain a firm foothold on the shore and form your battle formation, I will naturally transfer the main force to your side, then go ashore through the shallows and join us. All these arrangements have no other purpose, but are simply to prevent the enemy from attacking us halfway across the river when we land on the beach."

If one does not have some military common sense, Gao Shun's deployment is still easy to be confused - why did Gao Shun go through so much trouble when he only wanted to land? Wouldn't it be better to just rush the entire army to the river beach and slowly ferry them ashore?

Of course, that wouldn't work, because there were no docks or water forts, and the riverbank was very shallow, so the warships couldn't reach the shore at all. They had to use a small boat to ferry across the shore, which was dozens of feet away, and that was very slow.

The first group of people had just landed and had not yet gained a foothold, and the second batch of landing soldiers had not yet been received. It was possible that Cai Mao's army in the Yuliangzhou Water Fort would directly rush out of the camp, attack the landing troops that had not yet gained a firm foothold halfway across the river, and destroy them one by one.

Therefore, if Gao Shun wants to land smoothly, he must either directly attack and capture the dock area. The dock has a strong unloading capacity and can take many people ashore at once, without forming a tactic of adding fuel to the fire and giving them away one by one.

Or, he could tie up Cai Mao himself, create a gap, and then let Guan Ping go ashore first, and establish a stable beachhead landing site to receive subsequent friendly forces.

However, although these plans avoided the "attack while the enemy is halfway across the river" and were in line with the basics of tactical planning, Guan Ping quickly discovered a problem after sorting them out in his mind and combining them with the combat experience his father had taught him over the years:
"General Gao, although this method can allow our troops to land smoothly, even if we reach the shore, we cannot guarantee that we can quickly storm and capture Cai Mao's water stronghold, right?
You said before that the enemy situation has changed. Because of the Battle of Lumen Mountain, the enemy has become more vigilant. The troops deployed by Cai Mao in the water fort are more than we initially expected.

While our army isn't afraid of Cai Mao's field combat prowess, he's more than capable of holding the camp in the short term. This place is too close to Xiangyang and Fancheng. If Cao Ren and Xu Huang's troops leave the city to attack us, we'll have no choice but to defend our territory.

How many days can the rations we carry with us last? If we are surrounded, even if the soldiers are full of fighting spirit and hold their ground, I am afraid it will be difficult to continue."

Upon hearing this, Gao Shun nodded approvingly, as if acknowledging the comprehensiveness of Guan Ping's thinking: He had followed Guan Yu in training for many years and had indeed received the best guidance on military tactics.

Gao Shun then answered Guan Ping's question: "Don't worry about this. After all, we have naval ships to support us, and General Guan and the Lord will have reinforcements later. They are only 60 miles away by land and 80 miles by water.

I also brought enough carrier pigeons, so that as long as the enemy took the bait, they could immediately send back a message. As long as Cao Ren and Xu Huang dared to attack us from both sides of the city, we could hold out for a day or two until reinforcements arrived.

Therefore, there is no need to worry about the problem of military rations. Even if we are surrounded and the food supply is temporarily cut off, it doesn't matter. The dry food we carry with us is enough to last until the reinforcements arrive.

If the enemy is afraid of a trick and does not come to rescue in time, that does not matter. We can take the opportunity to break through Cai Mao's water stronghold and force Cai Mao to move all his camps to the north of Xiangyang City or to the Fancheng Wharf on the opposite bank, that would be even better. Our army can also successfully drive a nail in the east of Xiangyang City and south of Fancheng. "

While explaining, Gao Shun pointed to the mountains and sandbars on the opposite side so that Guan Ping could have a more intuitive understanding.

Gao Shun didn't dare to think about "annihilating Cai Mao's navy at Yuliangzhou" for the time being. He wasn't that arrogant. He knew very well that Cai Mao had plenty of warships. Even if he failed to defend the water fort, it would definitely be possible for Cai Mao to retreat to the water gate docks of the other two cities via the Han River.

This battle was only aimed at driving out Cai Mao, not at annihilating him completely. However, if Cao Ren or Xu Huang's armies dared to leave the city and counterattack on the Yuliangzhou battlefield, they could potentially stage a "center-blooming" attack.

As long as Cao Ren dares to come, Guan Yu will be able to arrive soon, and then they will decide who is better on the battlefield.

Although Guan Yu's available forces seemed much smaller than Cao Ren's, Guan Yu had always been confident that he could defeat a larger force with a smaller one, so this difference in forces was nothing in his eyes.

This was also the result of Liu Bei's army showing weakness and actively dividing its troops before the battle. Liu Bei took the initiative to divide a group of troops to go to Huang Zhong's side to carry out the mission and cut off the flank connection between Xiangyang and the upper reaches of the Han River.

Huang Zhong divided the troops, so Guan Yu would have fewer people to use. But if he didn't divide the troops, Cao Ren would definitely not dare to come out to fight, which was the price he had to pay for seduction.

After Guan Ping understood the logic of Uncle Gao's analysis, he no longer had any doubts and immediately agreed to follow his orders.

Gao Shun was also decisive and immediately completed the division of troops. Then he led a large fleet of warships and headed straight for the deep-water dock fort on the east side of Yuliangzhou.

Cai Mao on the opposite side was not afraid this time. Perhaps because he saw that the general was only attacking Gao Shun, a northerner, Cai Mao became confident again. He opened the gate of the water fort and sent out a fleet to try a naval battle with Gao Shun on the Han River.

"If it were an old Jiangdong general who surrendered to Liu Bei, like Zhou Yu, I wouldn't dare to go out lightly. But Liu Bei despises me so much that he actually sent a northerner to lead the navy, and he dared to show off his power to this extent! Today, let those northerners see the difference in talent between the northern and southern navies!"

Cai Mao thought so in his heart, and he felt obligated to go into battle, leading some warships and attacking Gao Shun directly.

(End of this chapter)